Professors propose no more time zones

The system of time zones can often seem complex and confusing which is why two academics have come up with an alternate plan, reports the Washington Post.

Johns Hopkins University professors Steve Hanke, in economics, and Richard Henry, with the physics and astronomy department, have devised a system where the world would run on a single, common time called the Coordinated Universal Time.

For example, as Michael Hiltzik notes in a Los Angeles Times column, while 7 am in London might mark the start of their day, Americans on the East Coast would likely be asleep at 7 am since it would correspond to 2 am at the time.

Although the implementation would require a significant mental shift in the way people think about their schedules, there would be benefits, according to Hanke and Henry.

There would likely be less confusion within industries that function across time zones like shipping and travel. They also point out that time zones are largely political creations.

As such, they suggest all the countries to switch over to this Hanke-Henry calendar system on January 1, 2018.

However, Hiltzik argues, "...it won't actually change anything. Workdays everywhere typically follow the sun on its local journey across the heavens, for the simple reason that human beings are hard-wired to sleep at night."